


Happy Little Bluebirds

by suyari



Category: Ant-Man (2015), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Stucky - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-13
Updated: 2015-08-13
Packaged: 2018-04-14 14:01:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4567236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/suyari/pseuds/suyari
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Scott Lang had never considered himself a follower of the masses, but after his first few weeks under the Avengers banner, he’d realized he’d need to reevaluate everything he thought he knew about how people in their profession conducted themselves. It started, perhaps fittingly, with Captain America.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Happy Little Bluebirds

**Author's Note:**

> Can't stop. Won't stop. 
> 
> Cassie's far too adorable.

When one thinks of career military individuals, one often concentrates on superhuman badassery and often conveniently forgets that they are human like everyone else. Sure, there are the occasional concessions which usually involve touching photos of said individuals wherein they are interacting with young children or small animals. And while yes, these are rather inclusive, they also fall far short from the reality. 

Scott Lang had never considered himself a follower of the masses, but after his first few weeks under the Avengers banner, he’d realized he’d need to reevaluate everything he thought he knew about how people in their profession conducted themselves. It started, perhaps fittingly, with Captain America. 

One simply could not get more iconic. 

And while Scott had known, reasonably, that Captain Steve Rogers was a _person_ first and a living legend _second_ , it still never failed to shock him out of some pre-conditioned notion that the man was absolutely, undeniably perfect. 

It was in the little things, as much as the big events. Like the way he woke up every day at ungodly hours and went for a run. Walking into the kitchen slightly cotton mouthed and in desperate need of a caffeine fix only to find Steve in his morning gear, stretched out against a counter like some grecian statue. Several blinks never could clear up the image of the sheen of sweat, the bright smile, the cheery, “Good morning!” and the rustle of the newspaper - because Steve was still a man of simple pleasures. Several gulps of coffee never failed to fall short in assisting with the image of Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes wandering in sometime later, similarly expended; scrubbing at his temple in what was either irritability, lingering exhaustion, or a potential combination of both. The way the former Winter Soldier would deftly pour himself a cup of coffee - always black - and then slide right into the space always left available to him on the Captain’s person. His coffee would cool, resting on the counter by Steve’s hip, while he rested against him and - Scott assumed - rallied for the day. 

It was in the way they looked at one another. Subtle and yet full of obvious meaning. Steve and Bucky spent a lot of time looking at one another. Sometimes when they thought the other wasn’t looking, and often when they were. There was such a wealth of information that could be transferred between the two within the span of instants that the team never tried to actively keep up; only making themselves available to follow their inevitable lead. Shock value worked in their favor a _lot_. 

The small touches they shared that trailed lingering devotion along one another. It didn’t matter if it was Steve running careful fingers through Bucky’s hair. Or Bucky tossing his legs into Steve’s lap and rocking his feet against his side. Even when they weren’t actively embracing, the feeling remained, as if the pair were never truly far from one another, never really physically separate, but extensions of one another capable of temporary individual movement.

It hit Scott sometimes, that people were capable of loving one another so deeply, so completely that such a relationship as the one he was beyond awed and humbly honored to witness on a daily basis could exist. And yet, somehow, neither Steve nor Bucky were ever forthright with their relationship. Rumors swirled about them like water down a drain, the bond they shared alive and electric to any who witnessed it. Leave it to stubborn bigoted assholes to not believe what they saw in front of them. Ever professional beyond the tower, among the people - and perhaps more private than any of them realized - it was disturbingly easy for those in denial to use the fact that the pair were not actively making out in front of cameras to denounce what anyone with half a brain cell to rub against their empty skull could comprehend without leading. 

Even their participation in activism was easily overlooked as a higher than thou moral platform, though no one had the stones to tell them such a thing to their faces. All tight cheery smiles that Scott and the others knew only delighted Bucky for the buttons he then proceeded to press. A source of silent irritation for Steve who never reigned Bucky in when it happened, because of the two Bucky had the sharper edge. Scott wasn’t alone in thinking Steve took some measure of amusement in watching Bucky work, but their ever steady leader never admitted it. 

But what really hit it home was watching them with Cassie. Unlike Clint, who kept his family separate, Scott and his fellow co-parents had agreed that it was in Cassie’s best interest to get attached - and for the Avengers to attach to her equally. They reasoned, if psychos with agendas and personal vendettas were going to be a constant, it was in everyone’s favor that Cassie both know and be comfortable with the extended family of ass kickers who would come to her rescue. 

Where some members of the team struggled, and others found it ridiculously easy to interact with her, Steve and Bucky latched on like she was their own child. Cassie was often in one if not their combined company, and where there were invisible lines by the mile where others could be concerned, Cassie was allowed more or less free range. 

There were days even Scott was amazed by what she could get away with. What they would _let_ her get away with. And the ways they both spoiled the hell out of her, and took it upon themselves to educate her in subtle ways that even had Scott’s head spinning on occasion. 

He was fairly certain Cassie was in love with Bucky - or would be one day, regardless of his relationship with “Uncle Steve”. Her tiny hands were always in his hair, working out messy braids and winding knots in her attempts to make him ‘pretty’. She skipped circles around him and hung from his arm - even the metal one, with a child’s easy acceptance that “Uncle Bucky” had lost his real one in World War II; faithfully assuring him that his prosthetic was ‘so much cooler’. Scott’s little monkey often used Bucky’s combat gear to climb her way up his side, little toes digging into pockets and traversing whatever dangers were within with a fluid grace and confidence that came from hours of the man’s company. She’d wrap her arms around him and sigh in contentment as Bucky’s arm tucked her close, securing her little seat in the crook of his elbow or across his forearm. It happened so often that Scott began to lose track of her until she’d pop up against his teammate’s shoulder, seemingly out of nowhere - most especially during mission prep. 

Cassie further endeared herself to the pair by being a hopeless classic films buff. Scott had no idea whether it was something she’d initially been into or something they’d cultivated in her, but roll a black and white and Cassie’d come running during the opening credits with a squeal of delight. She’d sit between Steve and Bucky and get more out of them about what life had really been like ‘back then’ than anyone else had managed to date. The pair sharing all kinds of personal stories and details that never failed to reel in other people once she got them talking. The more they talked, the less the past seemed to haunt them and before the team really knew what was happening, the pair began to open up. Small comments here and there, light jokes that lead into deeper discussions. Scott would bet good money Tony was recording everything for posterity and secretly weeping with joy alone in his workshop during rewatches. 

The widening of the team roster meant someone was usually home while others went on missions, so it became less of an issue to have Cassie at the Tower. It became common place for Scott to return from a mission to find Cassie securely snuggled between Steve and Bucky, in unparalleled protective company. The pair usually putting on a movie to distract her from her father’s leaving. Today they were watching The Wizard of Oz. 

Scott wandered into the commons and Cassie bounced against the couch cushions. “Daddy!” she cried, her pink feathered tiara bobbing against her fine hair. He smiled at her, moving into a crouch as she hopped off the couch and ran into his arms, abandoning the half formed...bird’s nest she’d been cheerfully crafting against the right side of Bucky’s head. Scott hugged her close tightly, nodding his ever present thanks to the pair of super soldiers lounging on the couch, a very visible vacant spot between them, where they’d clearly set up camp with his baby girl. 

“What’re you watching?” he asked, even though he knew, sliding Cassie onto his hip. 

“Wizard of Oz,” she informed him, little fingers fiddling with the uneven portions of his suit where one material met another. “Did you know Uncle Bucky and Uncle Steve went to see it in the movie theater for real?” Her eyes were wide with the information, as she always tended to be when the excitement wrapped her up so helplessly. 

Scott laughed. “Did they now?” 

“Uh-huh!” she replied, nodding enthusiastically. “Uncle Bucky says Judy Garland was in New York for three whole weeks! And Uncle Steve says they got to meet her once because they waited outside for hours in the rain! And she was really pretty.” Her head whipped to the side, tiara smacking Scott in the jaw. “Right Uncle Steve?!” 

Steve grinned at her - a smile Scott noted he reserved for Cassie and her love affair with history alone. “That’s right.” 

“And was it worth the pneumonia you almost came down with, Uncle Steve?” Bucky asked with mock sweetness, tilting his head so he looked up at him. 

Steve snorted. “You keep pretending you weren’t as excited as I was, Buck. I’m sure someone will believe you eventually.” 

“Can I have ruby slippers?!” Cassie practically shouted in her father’s ear. 

“Of course you can, Princess,” Tony replied from behind him, reaching out to ruffle her hair. 

Honestly, Tony was just as bad as Steve and Bucky. Potentially worse for the pure fact that he was a billionaire with all the money in the world to burn and a penchant for using it at the drop of the hat. Especially when a pretty lady was involved. 

Cassie gasped in delight. “Thank you, Uncle Tony!”

Scott sighed. “You know, once upon a time, someone didn’t need a playroom the size of Central Park to be happy.”

“Where else is she going to play fetch with an Ant the size of a mastiff?” Tony remarked. 

“She still doesn’t,” Steve said from the couch, a hand in Bucky’s hair. 

“But it helps!” Tony assured them all, stealing Cassie away. She went with him eagerly and Scott wondered when competing with men other than Paxton for his daughter’s love had become his life. Not that he would change it, for all the blossoming Cassie was doing surrounded by it. 

“Can I get a new dress to wear it with too, Uncle Tony?” Cassie asked, assured it wasn’t necessary to ask, but doing so politely enough because she spent a lot of time with Steve. For which Scott was immensely grateful. 

Tony gasped and clutched a hand to his chest as if she’d affronted him. “Cassandra Lang! Everybody knows new shoes mean new clothes!” 

“ _Tony_ ,” Scott moaned, a hand to his face. 

“Earrings too, I think,” Tony continued. 

“Her ears aren’t even pierced!” Scott cried. 

“Minor detail,” Tony replied, waving him off as he disappeared with Cassie through the door. 

“Tony!” Maggie would _murder_ him. 

Steve got up with a soft exhalation. “I’ve got this,” he said, waving Scott to sit. 

Bucky patted the large vacancy on the couch invitingly. Scott wandered over and dropped into it heavily. 

“He’d never pierce her ears without your ex’s permission,” Bucky consoled. “He has a healthy respect for keeping his testicles.” 

Scott laughed despite himself, feeling the tension ease as he sank back into the couch. 

Bucky pat him companionably against the knee, reached out for the bowl of popcorn and held it up in offering. With a sigh, Scott accepted it and propped his feet up on the coffee table. 

“Did you _really_ meet Judy Garland?” he asked as the music swelled. 

Bucky just smiled.


End file.
